New Audubon group learns about things besides birds

A program on “butterflying and dragonflying,” a twist on the outdoor pastime of birding, will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, at the Maggie Valley Pavilion by the Great Smoky Mountains Audubon Society.

The speaker is Jeff Pippen, who started birding and “butterflying” in 1985 by taking both field ornithology and field entomology courses simultaneously as part of his coursework for a masters in biology at the University of Michigan. Since then Pippen has birded in eight countries and has seen more than 1,600 bird species. He started serious butterflying in 1994, and has been conducting butterfly surveys in the Duke Forest and all over North Carolina for more than 15 years. When not birding and butterflying, Pippen works at Duke University. His research focuses on ecology and the effects of climate change on forest growth.

The program will include cake and coffee. The GSMAS meets the second Tuesday of each month April through October.